The Super League season may be only three weeks old but it is looking time enough to suggest Catalans Dragons are in trouble. Steve McNamara’s side have not won in the league since last July and they seem to have begun 2018 in a real slumber.
But perhaps the most damning indictment of this latest defeat – their third in succession at the start of the season – is that Hull KR, themselves without a win prior to this, barely had to escape second gear to put the Dragons to bed.
Not that it will matter to Tim Sheens’ side, though. Both these teams entered the contest winless from their opening two matches and it was clear the loser would already be facing an uphill battle to avoid the Qualifiers. In the event there was little doubt it was going to be another defeat for the Dragons from very early on in proceedings.
They have now lost to two of the sides – Widnes and Hull KR – who are tipped to struggle this season alongside them. McNamara insisted it would take time for them to gel after 15 of his players competed in the recent World Cup but this was arguably their worst performance since he took charge last summer. “We went from looking like contenders last week to being a million miles off it here,” he lamented.
The Dragons trailed 16-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Ryan Shaw, Mose Masoe and the impressive Shaun Lunt, making his 300th league appearance, and by the time David Mead scored their only points on the hour mark, Danny Tickle had secured victory with the Robins’ fourth try.
“It’s a relief to get that first win,” Sheens said afterwards.
Hull KR have shown marked improvements in each of their games since returning to Super League but, in truth, that trend did not need to continue here for the Robins to break their duck. Whisper it but, even in these embryonic moments of the new campaign, Catalans look in danger of relegation once again in 2018.Hull KR Dagger; Shaw, Salter, Minns, Carney; McGuire, Atkin; Jewitt, Lee, Mulhern, Blair, Clarkson, Kavanagh. Interchange Walne, Lunt, Masoe, Tickle. Tries Shaw, Masoe, Lunt, Tickle. Goals Shaw 3. Drop goal Atkin (79)
Catalans Mead; Broughton, Thornley, Wiliame, Tierney; Albert, Walsh; Casty, Aiton, Simon, Garcia, Bird, Baitieri. Interchange Bousquet, Duport, Margalet, Da Costa.
Try Mead.
Referee J Child. Attendance 6,711.
